Weed cutter



May 4,19%, 1,583,063

- c. J. VMANKEL.

WEED CUTTER Filed June 14. 1923 neuns 4: 2- 9IIllIIIII'IlIIIII/I/IIIIllIIIIIIII/I/n mvguion 4 ATTQRMEY i To (ZZZiii/tom it may concern: i

' a Be it-knownthat I, Crnxniius J,

whereby to vary theirspacing from the the frame.

Patented :May 4,

. CHARLES ;J. MA1 IKEL, oF-nnARsANaosn, oAmFonni i WEED CUTTER.

'- Application filed. J's- 14,

M'ANKEL, 'acitizen of the United statesandresiding near San Jose, in thecounty of Santa Clara and State of California, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in lVeecl Cutters, of which the following is aspecification. I

It is one object of my invention to provide a weed cutter in which theknives are simultaneously adjustable in a vertical plane ground level.It isianother object of the invention to providea device in which eachknife is reversible, its two ends being identical in for-1n and size butthe cutting edgesfacing in opposite directions. v 1

It is still another object of my inventionto provide a weed cutterhaving a frame of such a form as to accominodate a given number ofknives arrangedto cut a clean swath over a surface-"of the full width ofF inallyit is an object of the invention toprovide a weed cutter whereinthe frame and knives are so formed as to permit the mounting of a knifeupon any one of the sides of the frame, one cutting edge of the knifebeing presented in an operable position'when mounted upon one side ofthe frame and the other cutting edge being presented in an operableposition when the knife is mounted upon either of the twoacljoiningsicles.

- In the drawiug:' a j 1 Figure'l isa plan view of the device. liigure 2is a side elevation of one side of the'frame Y Y Figure 3is a plan viewof one knife. Figure 4 is'a front elevation of the part shown in Figure8. p

Figure 5 is a detail elevationon line 5 5.. of Figure 1'. v i a Q Figure6 shows another embodiment ofmy invention. a a A v Referring moreparticularly tothe' drawing, 1 indicates a square frame made of; angleiron, its four sides being indicated by numerals 23l and 5.

Mounted in bearings 66 and 6 6 are 7 shafts 8 and 8 each shaftcarr in2111 113 1 edges.

1 23. Serial no. 645,330.

bearingj13and having links 101 O "pi-v0tyally connected thereto as at14E'14 bein'g *equally' spaced above and be Each shaft -88 has a portionas 17-1717 -17. is obvious that amove [ment of handle ,11 in onedirection Will spread the two pairs of wheels apart thereby I 1 5 4extending at right anglesjthereto at each end owthe pivotal I I point'12ofhand lever 11;

lowering the frame, and a movement of the lever in the oppositedirection will draw the two pairs of wheelstogether thereby raising theframe. The frameis perforated 'at18 to receive bolts for mounting theknives now to' be described, 1 I 1,

Each knife 19 is formed of a single piece ofmetal ofl'set as at 20' tobring the two cut ting edges 21-- -21 into different horizontalplanes,and twisted as shown in order to secure the desired shear of thesaid cutting- Orlfices asf22 are formed in knives l9'spaced the same oneach end thereofas the orifices in frame 1 whereby either end of theknife may be'secured toframe 1 by boltsas 23. a v

" The knives are mounted on frame 1 as shown in Figure 1, itbeing notedthat the cuttlng edges'of the rearmostknives on sides 4' and 5 engageandlcut the weeds'that pass bet-weenfthe cuttingedges of the knives Qon-the foremost ends of sides 2 and 3. :Likewise the cutting edges ofthe rearmost knives on sides, 2 and 3 cut the weeds to the ex; tremeedge ofthe frame so that in once pass ing over the ground the devicewill cut a clean swath, the vertical adjustment enabling the operator tocut close to the ground and yet raisethe frame over obstructions.

A partlcular advantage of this constructioi'i is, that whenthe knifeblades become worn thjeyiniay be reversed and remounted with new cuttingedges in position. This is a sim-- v ple operation since any knife onside 2, for;

instance, when reversed'may be mounted on} either side 3,01 t; me'relymoving it to side "will not permit its reversal and consequently thepresentation of a new cuttingedge.

{By means of the construction hereinset f-forth-itis clear that I haveprovided a'device that can be operated for a longtime by ,terchanged.

merely changing the positions of the knives,

In Figure 6 I show that the device may be quickly turned into acultivator by merely removing the knives and replacing them Withcultivator teeth 24.

It is to be understood, of course, that While I have herein shown anddescribed one specific embodiment of my invention, changes in form,construction, and method-of operation may vbe made Within the scope ofthe appended claim.

I claim:-

A Weed cutter mounted to move in a horizontal plane, and a plurality, ofknives removably mounted thereon, each knife having two end portionsoffset a distance from each other andlying in substantially parallelplanes and a connecting central portion, each 'end portion having one ofits longer and outer edges sharpened to acutting edge, the tWo cuttingedges being oppositely directed, and said end portions being angularlyarrangedwith relation to each other,

CHARLES J. MANKEL.

comprising a frame.

